Track repairs underway after BART train derailment

CONCORD, Calif. (AP) — Crews were working through the night to repair tracks damaged by a Bay Area Rapid Transit train derailment with the goal of restoring service to three stations sometime Sunday morning.

Trains stopped running between Pleasant Hill and Pittsburg Bay Point in Contra Costa county after an empty 10-car train derailed on an elevated stretch of track near the Concord station Friday evening.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1e5Ma7t ) the train was under computer control. When it headed into a switching mechanism, the first four cars were thrown off the tracks.

Only the train operator was aboard and was not hurt in the accident.

BART said crews were fixing the damaged tracks and an electrified third rail as an investigation into what caused the derailment continues.

"Our priority is to get the rail service back into place as soon as we can, but we want to do that safely as well," agency spokesman Jim Allison said.